Method of producing a juice blend



June 3, 1952 J, PARKER 2,599,476

METHOD OF' PRODUCING A JUICE LEND Filed Feb. 21, 1949 1i BL END/N5 1a cu NVA/6 Patented June 3, 1952 GFF E? METHOD .OFiPRlGDUCIN-UIEBBEND Florida This invention isrdir'ectedlto a juice. fble'ndsoipineapple j uice and citrus :Y juice or.: juiees",i..of, distinctive flavour.I Of.- lthe. citrusv juices grape-f; fruit .juice ,is preferredjbut ythe :pineapplejuice may.A also ,be `combined with vorangejuice or .with`.. 5 both, grapefruity Yjuice and orange juice.

Pineapple juice.,.can,be produced l,most eco.. nomical-ly A,by extraction,A from vthe skim-contain.- ing .Whole,pineapple fruit;l However, the ,juicew thusobtained is objectionable .as a beverage .be-ft 10` cause of.the..presence of juice extracted fromLthe skim-which contains `.bitter components Whicnl impart .,anaundesir'ableavour which ,is'liune pleasing to taste. The juice is unpala'tableieven. though pressingor otherl conventionallextracf- 15 tion. procedures yield only a .limited amount of.` the .available ,skin juice andf'tlie `main juice-fis Y obtained Vvfrom .tlie. pineapple meat. For". the reasons mentioned present lcommercial 'practica is preliminarilyto remove -ithe skin or rind remj the pineappleand 'to'. Iextract juice solel-y; fr'om-` thepineapple meat.; Such juice isxpleasing to'. the tasteV andV `of )noticeably I,diie'rent-r -flavor l du`e to .the absence of theskinjuice.. An. examplelof.r the latter procedure is: fund in Hoyt 'and 'Botley.. 25" Patent 2,045,856, granted Juner30, l1936."Y

I discovered thatjwhile pineapple juiceceXJ.- tracted from the ,skin-containing v,Whole .frit is undesirable'. asa beveragesuch'atjuiee formsl a superior beverage in .blendwithfthejuice.ofBO4 citrusvfruit. In 'suchabl'e'ndlthe juice extracted from the. pineapple skin WhichE is 'objectinableA from a. taste standpoint in an unblended ,pine-f apple juice 'denitelyenchances the blend! The; pineapple 'skin juicecontains delicate` essences of desirable flavor-asv well as bitter, components) Such4 essencesiarev m'ostjpleasing` .the blend- Yet the bitterllcomponents are unnoticeable be-`A cause they,z are `selectively'suppressedeby the cit?. rus juice. The `l:blend fis -more :pleasing to theeo' taste .thana ,blend ioicitrusj uice withjipineapplee: juice 'lackingmhe skinjuice-,

I have .,di'scovered.;moreovem; that the--greatenx the amount of-.skinljuice that can,befextraeted;u from the whole 4pineapplefrluit .the .,better.iwill`-.;45 be. thevtaste characteristiose of v` the :blend with@ pineapple fr meat Vjuice ande citruslmeata j` merely-l, conventional extraction, procedures. are employed only a limitedramountofathe availablef skinjuicev is ,lextracted,aspreviouslv3 mentioned; 50 because, the. eskin/j uice .is. not. readilys released from ,the. pineapple `vslr-n.,proper. l andv areas of# the.y pineapple.. adjacentltheretoM ,l Aecnrdinglvvit is"proposedmosubjectdhefvvholepineappleifiaomk special and "repeatedprocessing so as to obtain according :5to the 'inventiona. j and l most,'lor-atleastiasubstantialjpart.. oi v the pine-, applet-:skinjuicmas wel-l`1las,.,.th`e ljuice of 'the pineapplelcmeatw,

Thefcomposition :lof the. ljuieeyblend. may i be variedconsiderablygto,produce .various pleasing flavours@ The s':-pi,neapple1.juiee,. including v skin juice-may constitute up tor-70apercenteof'the blendwvith theebalance citnua'juice. Ordinarily, however-,f4 ,theffpineappleej uice will ubepresent@ in lessen-#amcuntaas elovvrasf dpercenta. Blends-ofaboutzfl@finement-nr 50-1percent-pineapple juice anfir-saluent't 0flpeltcentrfor;$50vl percent grapefruit v juice far-erparticularly,neoommendemr As.v might bar-expected, :thegblendfaoieltheejuices provides*` -a producir.- thawing v`a l:flavour,-fxlistinctively fdiierent from the avours of the individual juices.

Totextiactitheaepineapple skin juicefrom' the skin thorough Awvas-hing-orfleaching is: required. Thisiis accomplished-fioyvone :or ,theother'of the citrus#A or@ pineapple mea-tai" juicesaf'` Preferably r subjetisied 3 toi k.extraction suffi entitoa'move lie-main par-tof themeat juiee-thekskinandipul *is` subjeetedto afu'rtlier extracting oper-atiri` vsixnultaneouslywith the citrusfefiuit.Fl Suchecombinedfiolz:eration results int-th pres'encepiiesidual"pineapple-meat juice atrleastarsubtantialpart-Sottile pineapple j uieefin`=-preiiii1inaryblend Withthe citrus juiceeand''esultsiria changef'inthe 'solids' and acid iatie'oFtliebitrusuice' vvhich is `conducive to tbette'r' final ble'ldiig Y"Wit/inthe :major part Aof the pineapple meat juicer Frtheni" citrus .,juice, particularljfgijapefrit juicef appvearsr to` `be particularlylsuitable as Ta washing Vor leaching agent infrecoverin'g thapineapple"skinjuices in greater quantity.; Alternativelyg'jhowever; the recoveryh of.. .'thepineapple juice may also .Abe vvaccom -f plihed Sin lsati'sfaetrylmanner and. amountl r.by repeated processingOi-theepineapple-@skin andV pulp;n witlilalllloiia,substantial amount, Vof,l're covered pineapple meat juice.

The inventionawill be more Vfullyfunderstood by referencer t.the.zaccompanying drawing and the Y detaileddescriptionahereaiteh In such.dravvings:

Figa, 1 .isha-@diagrammatic,view .illust-ratinga preferEed-.Zprocess: fr-producing i a. .j uice r ,blendl Fig-2 isatcorrespondingeviewioi .an Yalternati-ve process "for, prodcingfctheij uice .blendllv ing operation. A bath in water is desirable in any event for cleaning purposes.

According to the process shown in Fig. 1 the decrowned pineapples are subjected to a cutting operation I to reduce them to pieces and facilitate juice extraction. This may be accomplished in any suitable food chopper or slicer. This is an optional procedure which in some cases is omitted. In the main extracting operation I I the pineapples are subjected to pressure which reduces the meat and releases considerable of the juice therefrom. A battery of conventional screw presses is very satisfactory but other types of fruit juice extracting presses may also be employed.

'Ihe next stage is a finishing operation in which the main amount of pineapple meat juice is removed from the meat and skin pulp. A conventional fruit juice finisher machine of the type employing a rotary screw with surrounding screen, commonly employed in tomato juice production, is recommended but other conventional types of finisher machines can also be used. The screened meat juice, containing only negligible amount of the skin juice is collected in a suitable tank I3 from which it is delivered in appropriate amount under control of valve I4 to a blending tank I5.

Citrus fruit, preferably grapefruit, is processed in a conventional juice line. This includes, following washing of the fruit, an extracting operation I6 in conventional burr-type or other conventional citrus fruit presses or extractors. This is followed by a finishing operation I1 in conventional finisher machines which may be of the same type in operation I2 in the pineapple line.

To recover the skin juices from the pineapple the skin and other pineapple pulp from which the major portion of the pineapple meat juice has been removed in operation l2 is fed to finishing operation I1 simultaneously with the grapefruit. The further squeezing in this operation of the pineapple skin in the presence of the substantial body of grapefruit juice being produced simultaneously causes the juice to be washed out of the pineapple skin. Such skin juice with any further amount of pineapple meat juice recovered from the pulp is removed in admixture with the grapefruit juice while the combined grapefruit and pineapple pulps which have been screened out are removed together as Waste.

The mixed juices from finishing operation I'I are collected in tank I8 from which they are conducted in suitable amount under control of valve I9 to the blending tank I5. Therein they are combined with the main body of pineapple meat juice from collecting tank I3. The amount of grapefruit and pineapple meat juices blended together will be according to taste, as explained above. Both the pineapple and grapefruit processing lines may be operated continuously and simultaneously.

Blending is accomplished with any desired type of agitation. I prefer to sweeten blended juices by the addition of sugar or dextrose in amounts according to taste.

As previously mentioned the addition of the pineapple skin juice with the grapefruit juice, accomplished in finishing operation I'I, causes a change in the solids and acid ratio of the grapefruit juice and this appears to have beneficial effect in the speed and homogeneity of blending subsequently accomplished in tank I5.

The juice blend from tank I is further processed in any of the Ways conventionally employed with unblended fruit juice. For merchandising as a canned juice the blended juice from tank I5 is deaerated, then flash pasteurized at a temperature of to 200 F., canned and immediately cooled. It may be concentrated through conventional technique and/or frozen under known quick freezing procedure.

In the modified process of producing the pineapple juice and citrus juice blend illustrated in Fig. 2 the operations and apparatus employed are the same except with respect to the manner of recovering and handling the pineapple skin juice. Instead of recovering the same in the presence of the grapefruit juice in finishing operation I'I the skin and other pulp of the pineapple together with the main amount of the pineapple juice from finishing operation I2 are subjected to a second finishing or renishing operation I2. The further pressing of the skin in such operation in the presence of the previously released body of pineapple meat juice causes the skin juice to be washed out and it is conducted in admixture with the meat juice to collecting tank I3. Pineapple skin and meat pulp are separately removed as waste from operation I2.. This may employ a conventional fruit finisher as employed in operation I2. In finishing operation Il in the grapefruit line a similar fruit juice finisher machine may be employed. The grapefruit juice is separately recovered and is blended with both the pineapple meat juice and skin juice in blending tank I5. Further procedure will be as described in connection with the process of Fig. 1.

It will be understood that the finishing operations conducted in connection with the pineapple and grapefruit are extracting operations. They may be identified as finishing extracting operations and the initial operations conducted in stages II and I6 in the fruit presses may be identified as press extracting operations. The two collectively serve to secure relatively complete extraction of the juices. It will be evident under the procedures of both Figs. 1 and 2 the pineapple pulp is subjected to repeated finish extracting operations to secure recovery of the skin juice. Two such operations are found adequate to recover the major portion of such juice under ordinary conditions but one or more additional finishing operations may be added if found necessary. As before stated the pineapple skin juice adds valuable taste values to the ultimate juice blend and results in the product which has found ready acceptance upon the commercial market.

While it is my present belief that 'the juice in and adjacent the pineapple skin contains the delicate pineapple flavour desired for the blend and not found in conventionally processed pineapple juice, it is also possible that certain of such flavours are contained in the pineapple meat and not readily removed therefrom. If such be the case, the repeated finishing of the .pineapple is calculated to recover any such fiavours from the meat since the meat pulp as well as theskin from the first finishing operation are refinished together in the presence of a large body of grapefruit or pineapple juice which serves as a washing agent.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the skin and adjacent parts of pineapple containing the skin juice are much smaller in capacity than the pineapple meat so that the amount of skin juice is in relatively low ratio to the meat juice.

5 While, therefore, the skin juice constitutes only a very low percentage, less than 10iy percent, of the pineapple and citrus juice blend, the pleasing flavours contained in the skin juice are sufficiently strong to influence the flavours of the blend.

1. The method of producing pineapple juice suitable for a juice blend which includes subjecting the pineapple skin to extraction in the presence of a grapefruit juice so as to Wash out the skin juice from the pineapple skin and recovering the pineapple skin juice with the grapefruit juice.

2. The method of producing pineapple juice for a juice blend which includes subjecting skinbearing pineapple to extraction adapted to recover the major part of the pineapple meat juice then subjecting the resulting skincontaining pulp to further extraction in the presence of a body of juice from the group consisting of pineapple meat juice and grapefruit juice and recovering the pineapple skin juice with said juice body.

3. The method of producing pineapple juice suitable for blending which comprises subjecting skin-bearing pineapple to extraction adapted to remove the pineapple meat juice, then subjecting the resulting skin-containing pulp to further extraction, and in said further extraction simultaneously subjecting citrus fruit to extraction, and recovering the skin juice from the pineapple skin with the juice of said citrus fruit.

4. The method of producing pineapple juice suitable for blending which comprises subjecting f skin-bearing pineapple to extraction adapted to remove the pineapple meat juice, then subjecting the resulting skin-containing pulp together with said pineapple meat juice to further extraction and recovering the skin juice from the pineapple skin with said pineapple meat juice.

5. The method of producing pineapple juice suitable for blending which comprises subjecting skin-bearing pineapple to press extraction and then to a first iinish extraction to recover the pineapple meat juice, then subjecting the resulting skin-containing pulp to a further iinish extraction in the presence of a body of liquid comprising a juice from the group consisting of pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, and orange juice and recovering the skin juice from the pineapple skin with said juice body.

6. The method of producing a juice blend which comprises extracting the pineapple meat juice from skin-containing pineapple, extracting the juice from grapefruit, extracting in the presence of, and recovering with, one of said juices the skin juice from the pineapple skin and combining controlled amounts of the pineapple meat juice and grapefruit juice into a juice blend containing said pineapple skin juice.

7. The method of producing a juice blend which comprises subjecting skin-bearing pineapple to press extraction to recover the pineapple meat juice, subjecting grapefruit to press extraction, then combining with said grapefruit the skin containing pineapple pulp from the pineapple nish extraction and simultaneously subjecting said grapefruit and said pineapple pulp to a nish extraction, then combining controlled amounts of the juices recovered by the several finish extractions into a juice blend.

8. The method of producing a juice blend which comprises subjecting skin-bearing pineapple to press extraction and then to a first nish extraction, then subjecting the resulting skin-bearing pulp to further finish extraction together with the juices resulting from said rst finish extraction, subjecting grapefruit to press and finish extractions to recover the grapefruit juice and combining controlled amounts of the pineapple juice recovered from said furtherfinish extraction and the grapefruit juice into a juice blend.

JAMES L. PARKER.

, REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,166,674 Gould Jan. 4, 1916 1,362,868 Johnson Dec. 21, 1920 1,735,118 Kung Nov. 12, 1929 2,045,856 `IIoyt June 30, 1936 2,086,911 Hill July 13, 1937 2,092,729 Eberts Sept. 7, 19137 2,143,642 Bias Jan. 10, 1939 2,510,679 Bruce June 6, 1950 

1. THE METHOD OF PRODUCING PINEAPPLE JUICE SUITABLE FOR A JUICE BLEND WHICH INCLUDES SUBJECTING THE PINEAPPLE SKIN TO EXTRACTION IN THE PRESENCE OF A GRAPEFRUIT JUICE SO AS TO WASH OUT THE SKIN JUICE FROM THE PINEAPPLE SKIN AND RECOVERING THE PINEAPPLE SKIN JUICE WITH THE GRAPEFRUIT JUICE. 